People accused of misdemeanor criminal offenses in Colorado aren’t entitled to 12-member juries, the Colorado Supreme Court said Tuesday.
The decision came in the case of Peter Rodriguez, charged with two counts of misdemeanor sexual exploitation of a child after his estranged wife alerted police that he had pictures of nude children.
He also was charged with theft under $100, a class 3 misdemeanor, for allegedly stealing items from his wife’s niece.
Rodriguez’s lawyers claimed that under the state constitution, he had a right to a jury of 12.
Rodriguez was convicted of the charges in Jefferson County Court, but a district judge threw out the convictions, saying the Colorado Constitution mandated a 12-person jury for misdemeanor cases.
However, the Supreme Court, in a 53-page opinion, said that although such a right was in the constitution adopted in 1876, the judicial system was reorganized in 1962 when a new judicial article was added.
The court held that because of the change, only people who are accused of felonies have a right to a jury of 12 and the legislature is empowered to provide for fewer than 12 jurors in misdemeanor cases.
The Supreme Court said the county judge was correct and the district judge wrong and ordered Rodriguez’s convictions reinstated.
Bob Grant, executive director of the Colorado District Attorney’s Council, said that juries of 12 for misdemeanor cases are used almost nowhere in Colorado.
He said state law permits juries of six individuals in misdemeanor cases.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
